


Eyes Open

by Reyemile



Series: Seeing One Another [5]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-19
Updated: 2019-11-29
Packaged: 2021-02-13 01:49:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 16,877
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21486331
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Reyemile/pseuds/Reyemile
Summary: Marinette and Kagami are now officially together--but a series of eye-opening conversations with Tomoe Tsurugi, Chat Noir, and Adrien Agreste reveal that Marinette's new relationship is much more complicated than it seemed.
Relationships: Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug/Kagami Tsurugi
Series: Seeing One Another [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1511747
Comments: 134
Kudos: 658





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to the fifth installment of Seeing One Another! Reminder, if you're new here, click "Previous Work" and back up to Blind Days, or you'll find yourself pretty lost. Please, enjoy and have fun!

Marinette’s last half-hour had gone as follows: kiss, transform, find a street-level alley, detransform, kiss, call the car, hold hands and stare for the car ride, get home, get smothered in affection by concerned parents, barely escape to the privacy of her own room, tuck all of Adrien’s photos into the back of a closet, scream into the pillow for five minutes straight.

Now, after all that, her phone was blowing up with notifications. Virtually everyone in the class (and Markov, when did he get his own phone?) had gotten news of the Miraculous Cure and was congratulating her. Alya had sent multiple messages about both Marinette’s status and the status of her soon-to-be-posted Ladyblog interview. And strangely, Kagami had sent her thirteen messages in the ten minutes they’d been apart. 

**Kagami:** Friday evening, 6 pm, _ Oculus. _

**Kagami:** It only has one Michelin star, but it’s quite good and can seat us on short notice. 

**Kagami:** I am paying. I insist.

**Kagami:** Do you have any food allergies?

**Kagami:** I’m home now. One moment.

_ Is she lonely already? Is there some rule of formal etiquette where she wasn’t supposed to tell me all this in person? _ Marinette thought, rolling over to her back and holding the screen arm’s length above her. _ Or is she just ridiculously excited at the prospect of dating? _

**Kagami:** I emailed you a photo of my closet. You are a designer. Please tell me what dress best matches your intended outfit.

**Kagami:** If nothing matches, I’ll make arrangements to shop Thursday.

**Kagami:** Would you prefer opera, ballet, or concert for after-dinner entertainment?

**Kagami:** I will reserve seats at the opera. They are cancellable with 24 hours notice. 

_ Oh god, what do I do? _

The nice thing about texts was that she got infinite tries to get it right. She had to scrap her rambling and embarrassing word salads six times, but attempt seven was clear and concise.

**Me:** Swamped with messages from classmates. Will answer as soon as I can think.

And then, another text:

**Me:** SOS! Alya, call soon, before I pass out!

Marinette made it halfway through the ‘glad you’re okay’ queue before her phone rang.

“Hey girl,” said Alya, “What’s--”

“I have a date!” Marinette squealed. “I have a date and I’m terrified and have no clue what I’m doing and I can’t breath and please _ help _!”

“Woooo!” Alya said. Then, away from the phone’s speaker but still close enough for Marinette to hear, she said “It’s my room, I can scream if I want!” Back at full volume, she said, “So proud of you girl. From context… it’s L, not A?”

“It’s… neither, actually,” said Marinette. “Something I didn’t even know was happening until just recently.” _ Where do I even begin? _

“Neither? Then who? No, wait, nevermind, my real question is _ how? _ I love you to bits, but you and I both know you’re a hot mess around boys you like, and now you’re telling me you met, crushed on, and started dating another guy, all while _ blind _ ? I _ like _this new Marinette, but I’m wondering where she came from!”

“It’s…” words died on her tongue, with dawning horror. “Oh god, I’m screwing it up already. Not even half an hour and I’m already messing it up and it’s all going to fall apart! I can’t tell you, Alya!”

“Oh.” Alya’s morose answer, and the silence that followed, gave Marinette pause. “Yeah, we are due for that Lila talk--”

“No no no!” Marinette corrected course quickly. “I mean yes. Later. Not the issue now. I trust you, Alya, and every secret of mine that I can share with you, I do.” _ Technically true--I _ can’t _ share Ladybug stuff. _ “But it’s not _ my _ secret any more, it’s _ our _secret, and I was about to spill it because I wasn’t even thinking--”

“But you didn’t. Breathe!” Alya inhaled and exhaled heavily into the sensitive mobile microphone, and waited until Marinette’s nervous energy had ebbed. “I can help you with this. Really help. I know I had lots to say about getting you together with Adrien, but I was kinda winging a lot of it. A relationship, though? Nino and I really click, but we had to work to build what we’ve got. I’ve got first-hand experience with the _ dating _part, so my advice will be even better than before!”

Marinette rolled over again, wrapping her face in her pillow with the phone pinned to her ear. “Go on.”

“Okay, little bit of a TMI warning?”

“Alya!”

“Just a little bit!” she laughed. “Mom and Nora--”

“Not Nora, Anansi!” Marinette corrected in a poor imitation of the older sister. 

“Bite me!” Alya quipped. “Mom and _ Nora _had all this conflicting advice about keeping boys in line. Let them do this. Don’t let them do that. Start with a gentle push. Start with a firm punch. But their crappy, useless advice had in common was that it left my actual limits for Nino to guess. And he wasn’t good at guessing. So eventually, I just straight up said to him, ‘Babe. Hands off everything a bikini covers. The rest of me is fair game.’ And he said ‘You got it, dudette.’ And we haven’t had a problem since.”

It was not, in fact, TMI. “So what you’re saying is…”

“Talk to your boy and ask him exactly what you can and can’t tell your girlfriend.” 

Marinette nearly dropped her phone. _ That word has really changed meaning, hasn’t it. _

“Seriously, call him, do it now. If you can say ‘yes’ to a date, then this part is in your reach, too. I gotta get off the phone anyway, because I’m pretty sure the Sapotis are about to light the apartment on fire. Talk to you in ten!” The line went dead before Marinette could respond.

Marinette dialed Kagami’s number before she could chicken out. Kagami picked up instantly. “Marinette,” she said, barely audible.

“Kagami. You’re...quiet?”

“Mother is furious,” Kagami whispered. “She got word that my employer had activated me for my part-time job. She disapproves.”

Once Marinette’s brain caught up with Kagami’s code, she asked, “But… why? Your, um, part-time job, it helps a lot of people. Is she worried about your safety?”

“She refuses tell me,” Kagami said. “She is adamant that I have wronged her, but will not explain why.”

A cold blanket of dread settled over Marinette’s body. “You don’t think…” Marinette swallowed. “She’s not working for your competitor, is she?”

“No,” said Kagami. It was too fast to be real, she was answering on gut instinct alone. But a bit later, more calmly, she repeated, “No. She was equally irate, and equally obscure, about my request to take...let’s say, enrichment courses. Her issues are with the industry as a whole.”

The industry as a whole--with miraculous? With magic? What was going on?

“If she won’t talk to you, do you think she’d have a conversation with your employer?” 

“My employer is too busy to bother herself with--”

“No, she is _ not! _” Marinette insisted. “She’d be a pretty terrible employer if she let a part time job mess up the life of someone she cared about. I mean, someone she employed. You know what I mean. She’ll reach out to you, I know it. When makes sense?”

“...after dinner. 19:30.”

Marinette stared at the roof.

“I’m sorry I make things complicated.”

Still whispering, Kagami said, “You are worth it.”

Marinette flushed.

Kagami gave Marinette space to respond, but when she didn’t, she reached out to fill the void. “You may call me any time, for any reason,” she said, still quiet. “However, our relationship hasn’t gotten far enough that I expect you to call just to hear my voice. I assume you are calling with questions about our date? I can write out a full itinerary--”

“No no no!” Marinette quickly diverted the conversation. The very _ concept _ of a formal courtship terrified her beyond reason--she desperately needed to talk it out with someone _ else _before she raised the issue with Kagami. “I want to date you! But itineraries later. This is about something else.” Marinette sighed. “More secrets, unfortunately. I normally share everything with Alya. She keeps me grounded, and I kind of need that right now.”

“You do?” Kagami asked.

_ You’re dating her now, Marinette. She likes flirting. Be a big girl, step up your game. _“Since we kissed… I’ve been walking on air.”

“I’m glad,” said Kagami, the simplicity of her words belied by the breathless sound of her voice.

“But I don’t know how much I’m allowed tell her. Assuming you let me tell her _ anything. _”

“Our relationship is not secret.”

“The start of it is, though. You said that you first started… feeling… last Wednesday, your blind day.”

Kagami took long enough mulling her reply that Marinette thought she’d lost the connection.

“I am fencing with Adrien tomorrow,” Kagami said. His name sent Marinette’s heart bouncing in too many directions at once, and she hated it. She was partially successful in banishing the doubt by recalling Kagami’s lips against her own. Adrien didn’t love Marientte. Kagami did. Kagami was over Adrien. But Adrien was Kagami’s _ rival, _ her opponent, the only one in her academy who could challenge her.

“You’re worried about how he’ll react to your condition, aren’t you?” 

“Yes. I need to be the one to tell him. If he finds out on the wrong terms, he might _pity _me. I would be devastated.”

“I know.”

“Your friend, Alya… I don’t trust paparazzi, but I do trust you. Tell her, if it will ease your mind, and if you believe that she can keep a secret…”

“She can,” Marinette answered.

“...and if you also believe that she will accept our relationship,” Kagami added slowly. 

“I wouldn’t worry. The only thing she ever had against you was me being jealous. I promise you two will get along great as soon as you meet--”

“I wasn’t referring to me in particular, Marinette,” Kagami interrupted. “I was referring to us both being girls.”

Marinette swallowed.

That… was a thing, wasn’t it? She and Kagami lived in a world of billions of people, and although true supervillains were few and far between, mundane evil was much more widespread. To Marinette, whether she said “This is my boyfriend” or “This is my girlfriend” mattered as much as being saved by Ladybug or Chat Noir, two sides of the same coin, two complimentary opposites. But to others--Rose’s parents, for instance--they were as different Ladybug and Hawk Moth. 

“I’m sorry I make things complicated,” Kagami said.

“You’re worth it,” Marinette answered.

Another considerable while passed in silence. 

“You have my blessing to speak to her,” Kagami finally said. “Dinnertime approaches. I cannot predict how my conversation with mother will go, so I...”

“...need to meditate?” Marinette guessed.

Kagami cleared her throat. “...my reading suggested that we wouldn’t start completing each other’s sentences until at least two years into our relationship. We appear to be progressing much faster than I planned”

“Meditation!” Marinette said. “Not a bad idea for either of us! I’ll… I mean, _ your employer _will be by later this evening.” 

“Farewell, Marinette. I l-- um. Farewell.”

_ She was about to--did she almost say--it’s been _ hours, _ it’s too soon-- _”Bye, Kagami!” she said, disconnecting and hyperventilating.

“A--A--Alya. She’ll know what to do,” Marinette said, fumbling again with the keypad.

It rang twice. “...and you’re going to _ stay _ there, even if you get yourselves akumatized _ again! _Hi girl! Got the go-ahead?”

“Y-yeah.” She had so much to say. So much she wanted to share. So much she needed validated, to be told she was or wasn’t crazy. So many questions to ask. 

She and Kagami were both girls. Alya couldn’t… wouldn’t… would she?

“Well?” Alya asked.

“Sorry. I’m a little scared. I shouldn’t be, but I’m just thinking...what I’m about to tell you might change things between us,” Marinette said. Her eyes watered a little, and she used the pink sheets of her bed to wipe it away.

“Marinette?” said Alya. “You are being seriously crazy right now. That’s _ okay _ when you’re in love, but isn’t helping! You know me. There is _ no _boy you could date that would make me love you any less.”

“I know,” answered Marinette. “I know you’d never judge me for liking a boy. But the thing is… the person I'm with... isn’t a boy.”

“Oh,” said Alya. 

The wait that followed was the longest ten seconds Marinette could ever remember. 

But then, “Oh. Oh. Oh, my, God,” Alya said, wheezing with ecstatic laughter. “Oh my _ freaking _ God, I know I said you melted the Ice Queen, but I was _ joking. _ I had absolutely no idea you’d really _ done _ it!" She slapped her knee loud enough for Marinette to hear through the phone. "No wonder you were spending so much time clinging to her arm. I bet you were devastated to get your eyesight back, since you can't use that excuse any more!”

“Eep!” Marinette hid her face in her pillow at Alya’s teasing, yet she’d never been happier to be humiliated. “How did you know it was her?”

“Better question is, how on earth did I miss it in the first place? The timing alone--who else would have been anywhere near you to ask you out? Plus the obvious clues like Rose running interference on Adrien. By the way, does this mean you’re officially over him?”

Marinette made a fist and pointedly didn’t sob. “It means I officially _ want _to be over him.”

“Big oof, girl,” Alya sighed. “But yeah, it sounds like I missed a lot, and you owe me a scoop, so you better tell me _ everything. _”

And, minus a few Ladybug-related omissions, Marinette spend the next half-hour doing just that.


	2. Chapter 2

“And I thought ‘trapped in the panther cage’ was a good get-together story,” Alya said. “But you’ve got us beat. Wow! You go, girl.”

“Thanks.” Marinette was still on her bed, but now she was at ease, resting on her stomach with her legs kicking back and her hand on her chin. “I’m glad you’re okay with it.”

“Yeah…” Alya trailed off, slowly. “On that topic? Do you mind if Nora joins us when you come over for dinner next week?”

“Umm, sure. Why?” Marinette asked, confused.

Alya sighed. “Because my mom’s less likely to say something ignorant if she knows she’ll be outnumbered. I don’t like it when she gets all old-fashioned, but Nora’s got zero tolerance for that crap.”

“Oh,” said Marinette. Another thread wrapped itself into the ball of stress tied up in her chest. “I don’t have to bring it up--”

“No way. You’re a guest in my home. You should be totally comfortable talking about whatever you want. Leave the worrying to me.”

That brought back Marinette’s smile. “Thanks for looking out for me. But I meant, I’m glad you’re okay with my particular choice of girl.”

“Are you joking? After that whole story? Hot damn, that’s the kind of thing romance novels are based on. Seriously, when can Nino and I get you two out on a double date?”

“Oh, right. Dating. The scary part. Alya, what do I do!” Marinette flopped her face into the pillow. Again. She was doing that a lot lately, but the pillow could take it.

“Yeah, she’s an intense one.” Alya tutted her tongue in thought. “Like, nothing she wants to do is abnormal by itself. Nino even dragged me to an opera once--we left at intermission, but we got the experience! But we didn’t do anything like this until our three-month anniversary. We were both crazy nervous over our first date, and we were both crazy nervous over our first _ big _ date, so doing a big date _ as _a first date? I sympathize.”

Marinette blinked, then blinked again. “...Alya, you’re a genius.”

“I know I am!” she preened. “But… what specifically makes you say that?”

Marinette heard her mother’s voice from downstairs, and groaned. With luck, her parents wouldn’t keep her at the dinner table longer than it would take her to stuff her belly with calories. She wasn’t avoiding mom and dad, not exactly, but she was spinning too many plates. They could wait. “I’ll tell you later. Dinner time. Thanks, tons, for everything. You’re the best.”

“You know it, girlfrie--err, guess I can’t call you that anymore. You know it, girl! See you tomorrow!”

“See ya!” Marinette said, hanging up. Then she shouted “I’m coming!” 

She slipped another macaron into Tikki’s tiny house and was about to leave, when she had a thought that made her stop. “Tikki?” she said. “I never asked. It doesn’t matter to _ you _that I’m dating a girl, does it?”

“Dating?” she said. “No, you dating another girl doesn’t bother me at all!”

That was suspiciously specific. “Umm, Tikki, you’re not being reassuring. If something is wrong, you can tell me. I know we just fought about Kagami knowing who I was, but that’s behind us. You’re my friend. If you have concerns, I’ll listen.”

Tikki didn’t come out of her house, but Marinette heard the sounds of a cookie being devoured. “Marinette, you’re one of the most faithful girls I know. Even among Ladybugs, your loyalty is something special.”

“Thank you,” said Marinette. She took the compliment as well as she could, knowing that it was about to come with a catch.

“So if you decide Kagami is your one and only, you’ll be totally faithful to her, right?”

“Of course!” Marinette said, shocked. “You think I’d cheat on her? Tikki, I’m not like that! When I find my true love--and it might be her or it might not be but I’m going to figure it out--that person will be my everything!”

“I know,” moaned the Kwami. “And that’s the problem. I’m a Kwami, Marinette. I can’t fight my nature.”

“Your nature?”

“To wish for, advance, and support creation.”

“So?”

“All kinds of creation.”

“I repeat: so?”

“Including _ pro _creation.”

At that, Marinette’s knees turned to jelly and she staggered backwards to her bed. “What are you--what are you saying?”

“I know you’re too young right now, and this won’t really matter for years. But I hope that maybe, at some point down the line, the two of you will make some exceptions to your absolute faithfulness? You know, for the babies’ sake?”

“I gotta go my parents are calling me to dinner!” Marinette shouted, bolting down the stairs as fast as she could.

\------

Her parents were agreeable for once; they believed her when she said she had a load of schoolwork to catch up on, and let her head back upstairs after she’d filled her stomach. She had about fifteen minutes to make it to Kagami’s, plenty of time by yo-yo, but she wanted to get a head start. And she did _ not _want to continue her conversation with Tikki. So with a “Spots On!” she transformed, climbed the ladder in her room, and opened the trapdoor to her roof.

She was greeted by a staring pair of solid green eyes.

“Chat!?”

“Ladybug!?” 

“What are you doing here?” 

“Same thing you are, milady!” He smirked. “Marinette’s been through a lot. I wanted to stop by and see how my favorite temporary miraculous holder was doing.”

“She’s fine!” Ladybug said in a panic. “And busy. Very busy. Practically threw me out! And listening to very, very loud music on her headphones while she reads for school. So don’t even bother saying hello, she won’t hear you!”

He pouted. “Hogging her to yourself, bugaboo?”

The reminder that he cared for both halves of her brought some measure of peace. “She’d love to have you visit. _ Tomorrow. _” She scooted up to the balcony and slammed the door behind her before Chat Noir could sneak a peek.

“So what brings you out this fine evening, milady?” asked Chat.

“Checking up on people, like you said.” Ladybug threw her yo-yo in a generally eastward direction and started swinging. Her partner kept up easily, leaping through the night air and blending into the darkening sky. “I need to talk to Kagami. And no, you can’t join, kitty. She’d also love a visit, but I’m heading over to straighten things out between her and her mother. Tsurugi-sensei isn’t happy with Ryuuko being Ryuuko. Two heroes double-teaming her would come across as confrontational, I think.”

“Huh. Weird,” said Chat. Ladybug’s next swing was too long for even him to jump, but his pogo-staff covered the distance. “Any clue why?”

“I’m not sure. But, umm… do you believe in magic? Aside from the miraculous, I mean! Do you think normal humans can cast spells and fight demons and stuff?”

“Didn’t Master Fu tell us that a human _ made _the miraculous?”

Ladybug landed on a rooftop, already halfway to her destination, and came to a stop. 

“Yeah. That’s… a good point.” She tossed her yo-yo in the air and caught it, a valve for her nervous energy. “Kagami knows she can’t safely use a miraculous again. I only activated her in the Louvre because of the unique crisis. But she still wants to help, and she thinks her mother is hiding something. If she is… we might have another enemy, or another ally. I can’t say which.”

“As long as Kagami doesn’t start chasing down akuma on her own,” Chat Noir said with a chuckle. “The Ladyblogger is bad enough!”

“That’s exactly what I said!” Marinette joined in his laughter for a few moments, but then she gathered herself and put her serious face back on. “Total topic change, Chat. There’s something you need to know. I _ hope _it won’t matter at all, but it’s a potential danger, so you deserve the warning.”

“You know I’d do anything to protect you, milady. What’s up?”

She sighed. “My identity got exposed to someone.”

“Ah,” he said carefully. “While you were blind?”

This, at least, Marinette was prepared for. She didn’t like lying, nor was she particularly good at it, but this lie was rehearsed and was for Chat’s own good--as she’d said to Kagami, Chat was the _ last _ of her friends who could know who she really was. “Funny story, actually. After all that trouble you went to to put me in an out-of-the-way place where I’d be able to find my way home, when I actually detransformed, _ Tikki _was blind, not me!”

He covered his mouth with his hand, at once shocked and amused. “Oh no, the poor kwami!”

“Yeah, she crashed into a few walls before we figured it out. She’s fine now, though. But in between then and the final fight, I transformed a few times. Twice to try to fix the blindness with the Cure, and once to get a clue where to go with a Lucky Charm. That’s how I knew to be at the Louvre when it all happened. And that’s also how I ended up blindly missing a friend of mine walking in on me when I detransformed.”

“So the person who knows is a friend…?” he said.

“The best kind of friend, Chat. She offered to throw her whole life away and leave Paris, just to protect me. I said ‘no,’ obviously, but that’s the lengths she’d go to guards my secret. And if we were fighting monsters or mafia, that would be the end of it. However, we’re fighting Hawk Moth. All it takes is one bad day, one strongly negative emotion, and…”

Nodding solemnly, he finished the thought. “...and suddenly, we have a supervillain who knows how to hunt you down.”

“Exactly.”

“What do you need me to do?” he asked.

“Nothing,” she said. “Just… be ready to deal with it, if worst comes to worst.”

He nodded, and she was about to leave that at that, but he was her _ partner. _She didn’t love him back, she couldn’t, no matter how much he deserved it. But if she couldn’t give him love, she could at least share with him a little bit of her newfound freedom. “One more thing, Chat…”

He looked at her with his trademark smile and a gleam in his emerald eyes.

She smiled back. “I shouldn’t say this, I shouldn’t encourage you, but her finding out…it was one of the best things that’s happened to me since I first transformed. It was a huge relief. I feel _ unburdened. _I… have you ever had someone hate you in one identity and love you in another?”

“Once or twice,” he said glibly.

“And Tikki is a great friend and all, but she’s not--she’s not _ human, _ and she’s millions of years old, so her perspective is all weird.”

“Plagg’s the same, only he smells like cheese, too.”

Marinette looked at the sky. The moon was bright and low in the sky, but the last remnants of sun and the shining lights of Paris drowned out the stars. “I finally got to talk to someone I trusted about both parts of my life. I finally got to go off about the people who treat me totally differently as Ladybug and as my civilian face. It felt so good to get it out of my system. So… if you want to do the same thing… I won’t hold it against you if you pick someone in your own life to unmask to.”

“I pick you,” he said.

She groaned. “Chat, you know that’s not--”

“I know, I know,” he said dismissively. “That’s not what you meant. But you’re still my choice.”

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine.” He sat on the roof, legs crossed. “This reminds me of something else. Can I tell you a story about the person behind my mask? I’ll keep it vague, no identifying info, I promise.”

Marinette nodded. 

Chat patted the ground next to him and waited for her to sit before he began. “A friend of mine broke her le--err, her _ limb, _ her arm to be precise, back in elementary school. She keeps the cast with her, um, tennis trophies. It’s covered top to bottom it drawings and messages in her native, uh, Korean. She treasures it.”

“Kagami has something like that with her trophies, too.”

“Does she, now? What a coincidence,” he said, sounding like he was laughing at a private joke. “Well, when I first saw it, I thought it was amazing. I was an isolated youth, and so to see so much love directed towards her...I got jealous. For a few seconds, all I could think was, ‘I wish I’d had a cast like that’.”

“You wish you _ broke your arm?” _Ladybug gasped.

“For a few seconds!” he laughed. “It was stupid. And this, your offer, I think it’s kinda like that. You took something bad, and made something good of it. That’s what extraordinary people do.”

Words slipped out of Ladybug’s mouth without her meaning them to. “Kagami is extraordinary.” 

“As are you! But that’s not what I’m trying to say. My point is, I saw the end result, and ignored the injury it took to get there. I’m glad my friend has that fond memory. I’m glad you have someone you can open up to. But in both cases, it would stupid of me to wish to get hurt, just for my own chance at the good thing that followed.”

Ladybug smiled. “If you’re so wise, kitty, how come I always have to come up with the battle plans?”

“I’m a cat. I’m lazy. I’ll have you know I sleep eighteen hours a day and not a wink less!”

“Oh, Chat,” she said, punching his arm.

He grinned, showing fangs. “One of these days, Hawk Moth will be defeated, we’ll take off our masks, and I’ll fall in love with you for a third time.”

“Third time? When was the second?”

“Oblivio, obviously.”

“Ugh.”

“Regardless, I should let you do your thing. Give Kagami my regards. I was going to call it a night, but I can make excuses for another half hour of patrol. If you need backup with Tsurugi-sensei, I’ll be a phone call away.”

She offered him a fist. He pounded it, then leapt off into the night.


	3. Chapter 3

She knocked on the window, and Kagami let her in, and Ladybug smile, and Kagami moved in to kiss her.

Ladybug almost gave in. 

With one finger on her girlfriend’s lips, she gently pushed her back. “I’m sorry,” she said.

Kagami looked away. “I am being too forward,” she started to say.

“No! I like kissing you!” Marinette said the words before she thought about them, but in hindsight, they were absolutely true. “Just… not in costume. I can’t take unnecessary risks.”

“Ah. Of course. Forgive me, I’m still learning,” she said.

“Don’t worry.” Marinette was, of course, worried. But worry would only make things harder. “I have tons of stories of the time I almost screwed up my own secret identity. And I finally have someone to share them with.”

“I look forward to hearing them,” she said. 

Marinette took a good look at her. She was back in her kendo gear, blue to contrast her mother’s red. Marinette’s mind flitted through a few images of how to take the style and adapt it, add modern touches while keeping the classical base. She filed them away. If this went quickly, the mental pictures would still be fresh when she got to her sketchbook. 

“You’re staring,” Kagami said with a smile.

“I am,” Marinette admitted. “Gimme a minute to get it out of my system?”

Kagami’s smile widened. “With pleasure.”

“Umm. While we’re here. Our first date, Friday?”

Kagami’s eyes widened and her smile disappeared. “I’m pushing too hard,” she said. “Or is the food not to your liking? I know that you come from a gourmet lineage. I have some family leverage, if there is a particular venue that might otherwise be booked--”

Marinette kept staring, because she finally understood. She’d believed that her manic anxiety was her own problem, that she was reacting out of the norm to a perfectly ordinary start to a perfectly ordinary relationship. But that couldn’t be farther from the truth. Although Kagami would never show it, would never say it, she was every bit as terrified as Marinette. 

Somehow, knowing that made Marinette’s own fear seem much smaller.

Smiling, and willing her affection to project from her body, she put a hand on each of Kagami’s shoulders. “Kagami. The date is fine. I’m happy to do whatever you want.” With kindness, she added, “Assuming it _ is _what you want, and not just checking boxes?”

That got Kagami’s attention. “I want to check boxes,” Kagami said. “There is a certain...solemnity, in completing a ritual. Having gone through the motions of a formal courtship, our relationship will become more real in my mind. Easier to defend to my mother. Harder to question for myself. Does that make sense?”

“It does,” Marinette said. At the very least it made more sense than some of Marinette’s own ways of calming herself out of frenzies.

“That said.” Kagami was a little red at the exposure of her human failings. “I would not be offended if you rejected the invitation to the opera in favor of a more modern evening pastime.”

The small humor was like a pressure valve, and any remaining tension blew away in seconds. “I can find us a concert more suited to our age range. We’ll be a little overdressed, but that just means we’ll be the prettiest girls there. But, umm, the thing I wanted to talk to you about. How important is it that Friday be our _ first _date?”

Kagami tilted her head slightly. “Our schedules are restrictive. I would love for us to see each other before Friday, but I don’t think it’s possible.”

“We’re seeing each other Wednesday, though.”

“For my Blind Day, yes,” she said. “I will take pleasure in your company. But fundamentally, it is a day of training.”

“If… if that’s how you want to look at it, I guess,” said Marinette. Her disappointment was only half-feigned. “But… I’m coming over to my g-g-girlfriend’s house,” _ dammit Marinette stop stuttering, _ “to spend time with her. Alone. Baking cookies. Which we’re going to feed to each other.”

“I can feed myself, even blind,” Kagami said. 

“Know that, don’t care, feeding you anyway!” Marinette said before her courage could give out. “And… and if that’s not a date, then I don’t know what is.” 

Kagami closed her eyes in concentration. Then she frowned. “When you get home, please send me selfies. Straight-on, and profile.”

“Of course! But, why?”

“I will be blindfolded on our first date,” Kagami said, “so before then, I must sear your likeness into my mind’s eye.”

Marinette’s heart started thumping rapidly, and this time, it wasn’t from fear.

“Shall we speak to my mother?” Kagami asked. 

“Give--give me a minute,” Marinette said. “Let me… catch my breath.”

Kagami smirked. “Take all the time you need.”

\------

“Mother,” Kagami called from the central hall of the house. “We have a guest.”

“I did not hear the door,” she said. 

“Mme. Tsurugi? This is Ladybug. I’m sorry for my rudeness, but I didn’t use the door.”

Ladybug heard the clatter of a cup settling on a saucer. Tomoe Tsurugi was downstairs in the dining room, where only a week ago Marinette and Kagami had shared orange juice as friends. “Ladybug. My daughter put you up to this?”

“She informed me of the situation,” Ladybug answered. “But she didn’t put me up to anything. I’m here of my own volition, to make peace. Your daughter helped me when I was in need; it would be immoral for me to leave her to face the consequences alone.”

Tomoe was silent for the approximate duration of a sip of tea. “Kagami. Ladybug. You leave me no choice. Join me. Sato-san! More tea.” 

Even with her transformation enhancing her senses, Marinette couldn’t hear the valet as he walked at a runner’s pace across the entryway with a kettle of already-made tea. She and Kagami followed closely behind. 

The massive room, with its massive ebony table, felt just as imposingly cavernous with four people in it as it had with two. But Tomoe wasn’t Hawk Moth, and she wasn’t Adrien, so nothing she could do would intimidate Ladybug. She sat down across from Mme. Tsurugi. Kagami sat down next to Ladybug, and Tomoe’s scowl deepened at her daughter’s choice of sides. Sato poured tea for the three of them, Ladybug first, then Kagami, then the hostess. Ladybug reached for her cup.

“It’s quite hot, mademoiselle,” Sato cautioned. 

“I can’t be harmed while I’m transformed,” Ladybug said, really hoping it was true. And it was. The hot tea was unpleasant going down, but the same force that kept her bare face from being scraped raw on pavement also kept her the skin of her tongue from scalding off.

“A nice bit of theater,” Tomoe said. “But my concerns are not so simple as my daughter’s physical safety. How much has she told you?” She gestured, and Sato slithered off to wherever servants hid when they weren’t needed. 

“She told me that you were angry at her for helping me this afternoon at the museum. And that previously, you were angry at her suggestion that she study ancient Japanese magic. Finally, she told me that you refused to explain yourself, providing no justification for said anger. Did I leave anything out?”

“No,” Tomoe said. She blew lightly on her tea, which was still steaming. “You have the whole of it. And I suppose now, I am left no choice but to provide the explanation I had chosen to withhold from my daughter.”

“There is always a choice, mother,” said Kagami. “I only offer motivation for you to make the correct one.”

Tomoe shook her head. “This is a direct consequence of my own short-sightedness. I raised you to allow no obstacle to hinder you. Foolish of me, forgetting that all children must eventually come to see their own parents as obstacles.” Her tea was now cool enough to sip in small quantities. She did so. “Let me tell you, then, about the Tsurugi relation with the world of magic.”

“So you do know something,” Kagami hissed.

“Yes,” she said. “I was twenty-three. I had won my second Olympic gold. My eyesight was beginning to fade. I had five years of fighting left, and perhaps ten years of light sensitivity, but when I failed a driving test, it was a wake-up call to my reality. I thought, as you did, that perhaps those ancient secrets held a clue to cure my blindness, or at least to ignore it.”

“But you _ did _find--”

“Silence!” Tomoe thundered. “My story will be complete in its own time. I am tolerating a great deal from you, daughter. I will not tolerate another interruption.”

Ladybug looked to Kagami for guidance. Kagami shook her head slightly. “I apologize, mother. Already I have many questions, but I will wait until you’ve said your piece.”

Tomoe nodded. “The Tsurugi family records were in shambles. For many generations, our ancestors were warriors, but in the aftermath of the Restoration and then of the War, the aristocrats of our name chose to expend their efforts on saving our wealth rather than our true legacy. And yet, I managed to reconstruct parts of it, and to identify still more among the old libraries of other old samurai lineages.”

She took another drink, this one deeper as the tea cooled. “The hard part wasn’t finding the stories. Those were plentiful. No, the challenge was sorting the wheat from the chaff. Those who deny the existence of demons and monsters are foolish, but so too are those who see ghosts under every mattress and goblins in every closet. Magic is as rare as it is real. There were twenty tales of charlatans and braggarts for every story with a grain of truth.”

Another sip, and her cup was empty. She moved her hand towards the kettle, but Kagami was there first, lifting it and pouring a fresh cup. Ritualistically, she blew again across the surface. “I succeeded. The techniques that I sought called to me from the very page. Some, in fact, I’d already begun to learn. Fencing had brought me close to _ zanshin, _the mystical state of universal awareness. As I’d previously learned to channel my spirit into every cut, I needed little effort to advance to the basic ghost-cutting strike. In mere weeks, I had learned more than I dreamed possible. And then…”

Her hands turned white as her grip tightened on her cup. “And then, I woke up to darkness. The blindness that was meant to be years in my future arrived, all at once. It struck me in my prime”

“I wondered,” Kagami said. “The timing didn’t work out. Ten years to blindness would have been too long, from what you’ve told me of your past.” 

“It’s nice to know you listen when it suits you,” Tomoe sneered. Then she sighed. “That was disrespectful, daughter. I apologize.”

“Tensions are high, mother. Please continue.”

She did. “There was only one explanation for my blindness, but I refused to accept it. I blamed the doctors and modern medicine instead of myself. And I continued to research, but this time, I focused on heroes rather than heroism. The stories were remarkably consistent. Tsurugi Sasuke, Tsurugi Jotaro, the Sword of the Mountains, the Princess Magnificent in Robes of Blue Feathers. All the same, until I could no longer deny that the source of my blindness was my own pride. All were ancient Tsurugi heroes seeking magical wisdom; and every last one of them was rendered blind by their quest.”

Marinette inhaled sharply in spite of her efforts to stay controlled.

“The doctors…” Kagami said softly. “They told you to stop calling your blindness a curse. They said it would damage my development, harm my long-term coping. But you refused…”

“Because ‘curse’ was the plain truth,” Tomoe said. “I never found the curse’s origin. Did we irk a demon, or did we anger a righteous god? The answer is lost to time. Only the effects are documented. Nevertheless, they are documented meticulously. A Tsurugi cannot open their third eye without closing the other two. Permanently.”

No one said anything as the unpleasant truth hung heavily in the air. Ladybug was stunned, and also unwilling to say the first word in this familial matter. Mme. Tsurugi held her teacup placidly. Kagami’s face shifted from surprise, to awe… to rage.

“You still have not told me the whole story, mother,” she said.

Tomoe frowned. “What more do you want me to say?”

“You’ve provided no explanation for your _ anger. _ ” Kagami said. “You could keep me from magical pursuits with reason or with discipline, but instead I am greeted with unchecked fury. You have not shared the part of the story that made this _ personal _. But then, you don’t need to.”

“I don’t?” she said, patronizing in tone and demeanor.

“Because blind, I cannot win another gold medal for the family,” accused Kagami, halfway out of her seat. “Whatever tricks you taught me wouldn’t be accepted by the Olympic committee--”

“How _ dare _you!” Tomoe growled.

“No mother, how dare--”

Ladybug grabbed her shoulder. “Kagami,” she said soothingly. “Look at her.”

Tears had begun to seep from under Tomoe’s sunglasses. Kagami gasped, and sat back down. 

“You want the whole story, daughter? Fine,” Tomoe said, and Marinette began to see that Tomoe’s anger floated on the surface of a deep ocean of pain. “Here’s the whole story. One month after I woke up blind, I met your father. I knew from the moment I heard Toshi-chan’s voice that he was the most amazing man I’d ever known. I fell in love with him. I married him. I gave my Toshi-chan a child. I stayed by his side while he grew ill. And when he passed, I climbed up Fujiyama to scatter his ashes to the winds.” 

Tears flowed freely down her face now. Pain, raw and unfiltered, trembled in her voice. “I loved him and I lost him, and I never once _ saw _ him. I never looked upon his smile. I never gazed into his eyes. I cannot picture the face of the only man I’ve ever loved!”

Her grief crested, and she paused to wipe her tears on her sleeve. “Kagami-chan, my beloved child, I cannot picture _ your _face. And I can blame only myself, for burning away my sight on a frivolous quest for adventure.”

“Mother…” Kagami said, sounding adrift. Ladybug rested a hand on her arm, giving what little comfort she could. 

“You want to know the secrets of Magic. But Kagami-chan, the only secret you need to know is this: I would surrender everything I learned in that library--every technique, every spell, every trinket of knowledge--in exchange for five minutes of sight. Five minutes to look at a picture of the three of us, together. To see my family with my own two eyes.”

“I…” Kagami’s throat was clenched and her eyes were flooded. “I most humbly apologize--”

“You are forgiven,” said Tomoe. “And now, I hope we can put this foolishness behind us--”

Swift as a samurai could draw her sword, Kagami’s steel returned. “We cannot.” 

Tomoe, too, put on her stern face. Ladybug, still on the verge of weeping, marvelled at their self-control.

“We cannot, daughter?”

“You have presented me with a choice,” Kagami said. “It is a difficult one. My sight is a grave sacrifice, even for the unique opportunity to defend the city which I’ve come to love. I will not make the choice lightly. But, mother, it is _ my _ choice. You cannot make it for me.”

“And that, Ladybug, explains my decision to keep this all a secret,” Tomoe pointedly addressed to the hero. Then she turned back to her daughter. “You say I cannot make this choice for you? Child, you are _ fifteen _ . I absolutely can make that choice for you. I can, I will, and indeed, I _ must. _Protecting you from your own hubris is part and parcel to my parental duties.”

“Tsurugi-Sensei,” Ladybug said. “I know this situation requires utmost care, but your daughter has been invaluable in defense of the city. I was _ blind. _I know how much that means to you--”

Ladybug could see her Tomoe on the verge of explosion until the topic returned to blindness. The reminder led to a more measured response.. “I am proud of my daughter for helping you in your time of need. Please do not let my emotional state give you the wrong impression. You have my deepest gratitude for guarding Paris, and for saving me and my daughter from Hawk Moth’s depredations.”

“You’re welcome.”

“However, nothing you can say will change my mind. My daughter will not repeat my mistakes. I will stave off her curse for as long as fate will allow, and she _ will _ lay eyes upon the face of her husband.”

“Wife,” Kagami whispered, and while Tomoe didn’t hear, Ladybug nearly fell off her chair. While the hero was recovering, Kagami resumed her normal volume. “You give her gratitude for defending Paris, but forbid me from doing the same?”

“Kagami,” said her mother. “If I must choose between saving Paris and securing your future, then Paris will burn_ . _”

Kagami and Marinette gasped as one. “You can’t mean--” Ladybug said. Kagami said, “You _ coward-- _”

“Enough!” Tomoe roared. “I have spoken. Daughter, if I find you wasting your free time on self-destructive ventures, I will see to it that your freedom is occupied with more productive tasks. Ladybug, if Ryuuko should reappear, regardless of circumstance, my daughter will be on a one-way flight to Japan the next morning.” She grabbed her cane from where she’d rested it at the table’s edge and stood smoothly. “It would be rude for me to disinvite a guest while the kettle is still full. Ladybug, enjoy your tea.” And with that final pronouncement, she swept down the hall back to the central room, leaving the two girls behind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> EDIT: I cut a chunk off the end of this chapter because I realized my choice of chapter break robbed this chapter of some dramatic impact. If you're reading the comments and see references to events not included, they'll show up in the next chapter. 
> 
> Princess Magnificent belongs to the authors of the Exalted role-playing game, which I wish I could still recommend, but whose old memories still warm my heart. The crossover is purely in name; Deathlords are beyond the scope of even the Ladybug Miraculous.


	4. Chapter 4

Despite Tomoe’s offer of more tea, neither Marinette nor Kagami had any more appetite for oolong. Sato swiftly cleaned up after them as Kagami guided them back to her room. 

Once they were there, and the door was closed, Kagami walked straight to her bed and punched her mattress three times in succession. “Cowardly lying snake!” she hissed. She spun, facing her girlfriend, and said, “Ladybug, what do I--”

Ladybug stole a kiss from Kagami’s lips.

Kagami returned it, surprised but not displeased. When they broke apart, she questioned, “I thought you said not while in costume?” 

Ladybug kissed her once more. It was swift and chaste--she was not yet ready to initiate something more intimate--but each time grew easier still. “I said not to take _ unnecessary _ risks with my identity. Forgive me if I’m wrong, but… you _ needed _that.”

“I... do feel better.” Her lip quirked up. “I assume you kiss _ all _the girls in need of cheering up, yes? After all, we don’t know each other, and I have a girlfriend.”

“Har de har har,” Ladybug answered. More kindly, she followed up. “I’ll support you, you know. However you want to approach the situation.”

“The _ situation _isn’t the source of my inner turmoil.” Kagami hugged Ladybug and rested her head on Marinette’s shoulder. “It was mother’s words at the end. About letting Paris burn.”

“Ah.” Ladybug returned the hug. 

“I’ve seen the city rise up to defend its own,” Kagami said. “Stoneheart, Darkblade, Heroes’ Day. The city stood behind its heroes, and the heroes stand before it. One for All, and All for One. I am proudly Japanese, but on those days, I was also a proud Parisienne.” Air huffed out her nose. “And now, I learn mother would abandon all of Paris, not even for my life but for my _ eyes. _It brings me shame. And it is diametrically opposed to the teachings she has always professed.”

Marinette nodded. She thought Kagami’s reaction was extreme. Marinette had been brought to tears by the pain Mme. Tsurugi had let them see, and Kagami had lost sight of that personal anguish. However, Kagami’s anger was equally personal. The thought of Paris in flames was viscerally familiar to Marinette. And though she knew next to nothing about Hawk Moth’s motives, she could easily imagine him parroting Mme. Tsurugi’s words. His quest for her miraculous would be perfectly explained if he wanted to save a loved one and was prepared to burn Paris down to do it. 

Kagami withdrew from the hug, walked up to the wall, and opened her window. “I can address these things in due time. I lack access to both mother’s library and my father’s trust fund. The point of no return for my eyes requires me to find a source of magical knowledge. The point of no return with mother must wait until I’m eighteen.”

Marinette threw her yo-yo out the window, easily wrapping it around the steeple of a nearby church. She walked halfway up the wall but didn’t swing away. From the window, she said, “You know how to find me if you need me.”

“I do. And soon, I will. However, I have short-term matters to deal with, such my upcoming fencing meet with Adrien. I need to plan how to break news to him kindly, and the conversation is not worthy of your time. Unless you plan to inform him about our relation before I do?”

A knife of guilt stabbed into Marinette’s gut. “I... I _ plan _ to. But he’s Adrien and I’m me and I _ swear _you’re making me happy, but--”

“I understand.”

The knife twisted. “I’m hurting you.”

“And he is hurting you, and I doubtless will hurt him. We will all heal, Mar--Ladybug.”

Ladybug’s eyebrows bunched under her mask. “You think that you dating me will hurt him?”

She’d asked with genuine concern, but Kagami burst into laughter. “He’s a boy being told that a girl is dumping him for another girl. He could hate my guts, and the news would still sting his pride.”

Ladybug laughed away the rest of her glum mood. “Yeah, okay, I can see that. Go easy on him, Kagami.”

“I will grant him all the mercy that he deserves.” 

Ladybug winced in sympathy for the poor boy.

“You should go,” Kagami said.

“I should. See you Wednesday?” 

Kagami gave Ladybug one last smile, the kind of grin that would illuminate Marinette’s dreams for nights to come. “It’s a date.”

Marinette leapt from the sill, catching herself on her yo-yo string and swinging close to the ground, then running and accelerating and leaping up, up, up to the side of a tall apartment building, then up further to the roof of its neighbor. And then, with the sounds and sights and smells of Paris all around her, she swung home, where the worst problems with her own parents would cause was a surplus of affection.

\------

“I hate my parents!” Marinette wailed into her arms, face buried in her desk.

Alya was rubbing her back from their seat in Mlle. Bustier’s room. “Girl, this isn’t like you.”

“Complaining about them? Well if they weren’t such _ jerks _\--”

“I mean,” Alya said, trying to lighten the mood, “it’s not like you to be here twenty minutes before class starts!”

“Ha. Ha. Listen to my laughter. I’m amused.”

“...which is why,” Alya tutted, “I’m taking this seriously. But I can’t actually help unless you tell me what they did.”

Marinette felt the rant building up in her chest, but she was interrupted by a kind voice that sounded as pink as its owner. “Oh no!” said Rose. “Marinette, are you okay?”

Marinette turned her head to her cheek was pressed to the wood instead of her desk. Rose and Juleka were together, of course, hands held and fingers entwined. “It’s my parents,” Marinette said. Instantly, she wanted to take it back. “And it’s totally, completely out of line for me to complain to you, Rose. I know about your situation. I’m sorry, my stuff is nothing in comparison--”

“You came out?” Juleka asked.

Marinette closed her eyes and nodded.

Rose squeaked. “You and she are _ going _out?”

Marinette nodded again. 

“Oh my goodness oh my goodness, tell me everythi--”

“Rosie!” Juleka hushed. “Timing!”

“Oh, yeah,” Rose said. “Alya, can I borrow your seat?” There was some shuffling to Marinette’s side, and she felt rose sit down beside her. “Listen, Marinette. My situation, and yours… it’s not a competition. There’s no rule that says only the saddest person is allowed to cry. If you’re feeling upset, then you should talk about what’s upsetting you.”

Alya was whispering something to Juleka, who grunted a negative response. Rose seemed to be ignoring them, taking Alya’s role as designated backrubber.

Well, if Rose was giving her blessing… “When I thought about my parents, whether they’d accept my decision with Kagami, I meant the word ‘accept’ as in them being understanding or being judgmental,” Marinette said. She’d been bouncing between sad and mad all morning, and the pendulum was swinging back towards angry. “It never occured to me that they wouldn’t accept _ reality. _ I told them and they _ didn’t believe me _.” She threw her face back into her arms and let her shirt sleeve muffle her growling.

“They thought you were playing a prank on them or something?” Alya asked.

“Oh, no. Worse than that. I told them I had a date Friday, and you know what mom said?” She inhaled through gritted teeth. “Mom said, ‘I know that men say they like this kind of thing, but it’s cruel of you to play with a girl’s heart just to seem more attractive to a boy’. Can you believe it?”

“Not cool,” Juleka agreed. 

“And I tried make her listen to what was actually happening, but she just kept going. ‘I know you think this is a good idea, but there are much healthier ways to get that Adrien boy’s attention!’ I don’t--I can’t even--grrr!”

Someone reached from the desk behind her to pat her shoulder. “Not sure what’s upsetting you, Marinette, but if you need my attention, you can just ask!” 

Marinette’s veins turned to ice.

“Adrien, you _ ass! _” Alya screamed. “What are you doing listening in to a private conversation?”

“I was just getting in my seat! I can’t help what I overhear. Besides, what’s the big--”

“Nino, smack your bro for me?”

“Hey, wait--OW! Et tu, Nino?”

“Dude, I’d have smacked you even if Alya didn’t have me totally whipped. You screwed up, bro.”

“That’s right!” It was Rose speaking now, worked into a lather. “You screwed up! You need to give us girls our space and let us work things out, and class hadn’t even started yet--”

“I know, but it’s _ Marinette. _I hate seeing her sad--”

And that, finally, was too much. Without saying anything, Marinette left her seat, dodged by Alya, and fled for the door.

\-----

“Marinette, you can’t just hide from this,” Alya called from the hallway.

_ Yes I can, _Marinette thought. 

She was swiftly proven wrong when the phone rang in her bag. 

She rummaged through her purse, but in the dark of the locker, she couldn’t find the button to silence her phone--all she accomplished was poking Tikki. Shortly thereafter, the metal door opened and cursed light stung her eyes. 

“Girl, do you have all the empty lockers in the school mapped out or something?”

_ Yeah. I needed them when Chloe was at her worst. Then I needed them to transform in emergencies. And now, I need them for when I make an absolute fool of myself. _

“I’m not getting out,” Marinette said from within her metal box.

“Yes, you are,” Alya sighed.

“No. I’m staying here until I die and then you can bury my corpse at sea.”

“Come _ on, _Marinette.” Alya grabbed her wrist but Marinette pulled it away and hid her hands under her arms. “Look, I talked Mlle. Bustier into treating this panic attack as a medical issue, so I’m not gonna get in trouble for skipping class to help you just this once. But I can’t stay with you all day. And when I head back, Adrien’s gonna have questions. What do you want to tell him?”

That was the question, wasn’t it? It would be so easy to make another excuse. To tell another lie. To hide in another locker. 

“I want to tell him the truth,” Marinette said.

“That’s good!” said Alya. “But is this time going to be for real, or will it be chicken-out #237?”

“That--that’s not fair,” Marinette said, and it wasn’t fair, because chicken-out #236 had literally prevented the annihilation of Paris and much of the Moon. “Still. You’re right,” she said. “I can’t--I can’t say it to his face. I know it’s a lot to ask, Alya. We’ve spent close to a year carefully avoiding a grammar-school ‘my friend likes you’ game of telephone. But you as a messenger is my only remaining option at this point. I can’t ruin it again.”

“I can’t be your go-between. You know that.”

“And I can’t even _ talk _when I’m in the same room as him!”

Alya tapped her chin. “How about we split the difference.” She sat down with her back to the wall of lockers, pressed a few keys on her phone, and held it up. “I’m not going to risk mangling your message as a go-between. But if you want me to give a private off-the-record interview to your pal Alya, she can make sure it gets to Adrien’s ears. And no one else’s.”

_ You’ve fought Hawk Moth. You’ve fought monsters the size of buildings. You’ve fought Chat Blanc. This is nothing! _ She told herself. Sometimes, if you repeated a lie, you could come to believe it. “Let’s do it.”

Alya held her phone up. “This is Alya Césaire, AKA the Ladyblogger, reporting from the illustrious halls of Collège Françoise Dupont, interviewing the incomparable Marinette Dupain-Cheng. Today, we’re discussing a secret widely known but never before reported upon. Mme. Dupain-Cheng, what are your feelings for Adrien Agreste?”

Alya moved the phone in front of Marinette like a newscaster’s microphone, and Marinette looked back like a deer staring at headlights. _ This is nothing. _ “I lo--lo--lo--” _ Nothing at all. _ “I li-li-lik--” _ This is _ everything, _ and you have to do it or you’ll never move on. _ “I want to--I _ wanted _to da-date him for a very, very long time.”

“Wanted,” Alya asked. “Past tense?”

“No. Yes. No! Obviously not past tense, listen to me, I’m a wreck. But intellectually, yes, past tense. My brain has started the engine on the car to ‘moving-on-town’ and is waiting for heart and soul to get on board. Oh my God, that sounded totally lame.”

Alya ignored the digression. “And these feelings have existed for how long?”

“Since I met him. Since practically day one. And I never told him. Well, I told him a few times and things went terribly wrong. Somehow, he got a prescription for laxatives in the envelope that _ should _ have been a love letter, and I still can’t believe I got _ that _ unlucky, but him not knowing I li-li-like him-- _ liked _him!--is probably 80% me being a giant wuss.”

“So you’ve been trying to tell him for almost a year?”

“Yeah,” Marinette answered, and hearing Alya actually say that out loud made her want to throw up.

Alya stuck a hand into Marinette’s locker to give her a kind, supportive squeeze. “A year’s worth of middle is a lot to cover, so let’s come back to that. Viewers are more interested in the beginning and the end. Why did you like him, and what prompted you to move on?”

“I still have the umbrella!” She said, voice cracking. “Ad-Adrien, if you’re listening, the umbrella you gave me on that rainy day, right at the beginning of school. I kept it. I still have it, because it reminds me of how incredibly kind you are. You never want to see people in pain. You want everyone to be happy. And that’s so, so, special, and I need to stop because I can’t let myself fall in love with you again, I can’t do it!”

Realizing the danger, Alya pivoted. “So then what is prompting you to end the relationship before you ever worked up the courage to begin it?”

“It was never going to begin,” Marinette made herself admit out loud. “He loves someone else. And Adrien, I wish--I wish--I wish you ha-ha-happiness with he-her.” She preemptively waved away Alya’s support while she wept through a surge of ugly emotion. “But also, I found another person I care for. And while I found her, I realized that my feelings for… him… weren’t entirely healthy.”

“Again, just to be clear. It’s a ‘her’ this time?”

“Yes,” Marinette said, for once stutter-free.

“Okay. Tabling that. Unhealthy?”

“Well, it’s related. I… I was so crazy for Adrien that I never thought about what _ kind _ of people I liked. Do I like tall people or short? Who knows, I like Adrien! Do I like sporty people or nerds? Who knows, I like Adrien! Do I like… do I like boys or girls or both? Who knows, I like Adrien!” She wrung out her pigtails in her nervousness. “Alya, you might have to go and delete this, but you and Nino talk about who else you like, right? Even when a couple loves each other to pieces, it’s _ normal _to talk to one another about what kind of people you think are pretty, right?”

“Yeah,” Alya said. “I wouldn’t know Nino if I didn’t know his taste in girls and guys. That’s a part of him as sure as his taste in pizza or music.”

“Oh.” Marinette was mildly, but not completely, surprised. “He’s…?”

“Yup. And I never thanked you for coming out to me, ‘cause I wanted a chance to prove I could do it right. I really bungled it with him. Lucky for me, he’s a forgiving guy who loves the crap out of me, so we got over it. But to answer your question, he’s, what’s the word he used? Ambisextrous, I think? Something cutesy. But he’s not just horsing around about it. Umm, since you’re breaking up with Adrien and I’m gonna delete this anyway, you remember that party at Ivan’s you had to skip because you were babysitting?”

“Yup,” she said. _ I definitely remember begging Mme. Chamack to let me take care of Manon so I wouldn’t have to be trapped in a room with Lila. No, stop it, Mari, Alya’s trying to help! And she really is helping. I’m miserable, but… I trust her to keep butterflies away. _ “I remember. You said it was great and Nino said it sucked.”

Despite the emptiness of the hallway, Alya leaned in for scandalous privacy. “So Nino and I were going at it hot and heavy in a closet, and Adrien walks in cause he got lost on the way to the bathroom. And it’s kinda awkward but the Nino goes ‘Hey dude, you want in on this?’ And Adrien’s like ‘Naw, I’m good,’ and we all laugh and the tension is gone, and I think about how Nino’s such a funny guy. But then…”

“Oh lord.” This time, Marinette’s surprise was total. “He was sulking for a week after his party. Are you telling me--”

“--that he really meant it? Yeah, near as I can tell! But that’s enough of that. Back on the formal record. We left off about you figuring out you like girls.”

“Yeah,” Marinette said. All her secrets had been clogging her up like gunk clinging to the inside of a pipe. And as she forced more and more out, each burst eroded away a little more of the blockage, and her heart flowed freer and freer. “Even if, in the magical land of rainbows and flowers and candy, I ended up with Adrien, I’d still be a girl who also likes girls. Only, I wouldn’t have ever known that. I wouldn’t have ever figured it out. And that’s… that’s not healthy. That’s not how a happy relationship starts. It made me question--I used the L-word a lot--”

“Lesbian?” 

“Love, you jerk!” Marinette smacked Alya’s shoulder. “What I felt for Adrien burned like fire, and it still smolders and flares, and I still _ want _to believe it’s love. But maybe it’s just a crush. I don’t know. I guess, if this new thing turns into love, I’ll have a point of comparison. So maybe someday I’ll have an answer.”

“Maybe,” said Alya. “Last question. What do you want from Adrien at this moment?”

A treasonous sliver of her heart said ‘marry me’ and her old habits all said ‘let’s be friends and pretend all this never happened,’ but her common sense won out. “Space,” she said. “Adrien, you are a wonderful person, crush or no. I want to be friends with you. But I can’t be your friend if I keep doing stupid things like freaking out when you talk to me or stealing your phone and I can’t believe I did that and it was probably a felony, and you probably don’t even _ want _to be friends with me now that you know that--”

“Girl!”

“Sorry, sorry!” Inhale, exhale. “Adrien, you always try to make everything right, and I do want things to be right between us. But what I’ve broken is something only I can fix. If you still want to be my friend, I’ll be your friend at some point in the future, I promise. But for now. Please? Space.”

Alya dramatically jammed the ‘save’ button with her thumb. “And, that’s a wrap. I’ll go play this for our supermodel friend, and I’ll come back with breaking news of his reaction. Hey, girl? I know I can’t get you out of that locker, but at least keep the door open, okay? You shouldn’t be wallowing in darkness. It’s not good for you.”

“Okay. And Alya? Thank you.”

“For our everyday Ladybug? Anything.”

\------

A bell tolled and told the school that classes were done. Marinette hadn’t expected to see Alya after only a single period, since Adrien couldn’t exactly listen to the whole interview during class, but the fiery redhead was right there. Mlle. Bustier had apparently been cooperative (_ note to self: bake her cookies _), because she’d found the time to accomplish her task and return to Marinette’s side as soon as class dismissed. 

Adrien was with her.

“A-A-A-Adrien?” Her stammer was back full force.

“Space, I know,” Adrien said. He tried to smile. It didn’t hide the sadness in his eyes. “I respect your wishes. I’m going to give you space, I promise, but I couldn’t just up and disappear without saying a few things. You don’t have to say anything back. Just listen. Or you can talk, if you want. But however you want to handle this, I promise that I’ll be gone in three minutes”

Alya held up her phone. “2:45, sunshine!”

“Right, right. So, Marinette. First and most important: I am so, so sorry. I feel stupid and awful and like a terrible friend. It’s my fault that--”

“No!” Marinette said. “I could have--any time--I could have just _ said _something--”

“I could have just _ seen _something! You do so much for the class and I was looking for ways to repay you and I missed it, cause I’m a moron--”

“I’m the moron--”

“Point of order,” Alya said with one finger raised. “You’re both morons. Good _ lord, _the two of you are clueless. Also, 2:10 on the clock.”

“Right. So, I’m sorry. Second thing. If I’m giving you space, I needed to make sure I said goodbye--”

“No!” Marinette said again. “N-n-not ‘goodbye!’ That’s too… that sounds permanent. That’s not what I want!”

Adrien made her heart ache when he swept his hair aside and tried to act casual. _ This is the right thing, _ she told herself. _ For him. For Kagami. For me. _While she was angsting, Adrien found his voice. “Not goodbye, then. But I’d still feel uncool, vanishing without a word. So, how about…see you later? Does that work?”

“Yeah,” answered Marinette after a small amount of thought. “Yeah, it does. I need my space, but we’ll be together again--_ not together dammit! _\--we’ll hang out again. Soon, I hope. So...see you later.”

“Great, great.” He didn’t sound great. She guessed he saved the worst for last. _ Go away go away go away! _She thought, but he could not read her mind. “Third thing. The… the girl I’m in love with. She’s…” He wasn’t trying to torture her, but he was succeeding despite himself. 

“55 seconds, blondie,” Alya prompted. 

“She’s not Kagami,” Adrien said. 

_ WHAT? _

“You two have been friends. She helped you out of a tight spot. And the last thing I want is for some sort of jealousy to mess up the friendship you two have. She does like me. More than a little. But--”

_ He’s… he’s trying to make sure I’m happy, _she thought.

Marinette cut him off with a bawling sob at the same time that Alya literally fell to her knees with laughter. And Marinette crawled out of her locker to her friend, and her weeping was so ridiculous she started to laugh. And Alya’s laughter was uncontrollable, robbing her of breath until she cried. And they hugged each other, forming a big ugly pile of hands and arms and tears and giggles. 

“Okay, that was not the reaction I expected,” Adrien said. “Obviously I said something profoundly stupid, but I have no idea what it was.”

“Adrien, you big, dumb, sexy bimbo,” Alya guffawed. “There’s absolutely, positively no way that Marinette could ever mistake Kagami for your secret mystery lover.”

“There… isn’t?”

“N-no,” Marinette said from where she’d hidden behind Alya. “She… she can’t possibly be your secret mystery lover, because...”

“Because...?”

“B-b-because…” _ She makes me so happy. _ “Because she’s _ my _secret mystery lover.”

Adrien stared blankly. Alya and Marinette started laughing once again. 

“You’re serious. And I missed it completely,” he said. “And she’s sparring with me this afternoon, too. I’m a dead man walking. Alya, tell Nino he can have my laptop and headphones when I’m gone. Or maybe not, I dunno. Things are going to be weird with _ all _ my friends _ forever, _aren’t they?” He pinched the bridge of his nose. 

“Things will get better,” Alya said. “They’ll get better faster if you give people the space they need, though.”

Adrien found a small laugh of his own buried somewhere within him. “That was probably longer than three minutes, anyway. Marinette, I’m… I’m really happy that you found a way to laugh about this before I had to go. I’ll worry less while I’m giving you your space. Your friendship is irreplaceable; I’ll wait, so take all the time you need. And with that, I guess it’s goodb--err. I guess it’s, see you later.”

“See you later!” She replied, wiping her eyes on Alya’s shirt.

He vanished around a corner. This was a cue for the other students who’d been waiting for Alya to do her thing, and within seconds Alya and Marinette were surrounded by teens rushing to grab things out of nearby lockers. 

“I feel terrible,” Marinette hiccuped. “And, ironically, better than I’ve felt in ages.”

“Coming clean can be like that,” Alya said. They untangled themselves and helped one another to their feet. “You good to get through the rest of the day?”

“I might want to swap seats with someone to be a little further from…” She didn’t want to say his name. Not a great start. “...from him. Otherwise, yeah. You’re the best, Alya.”

“You know it!”

“But… one thing kinda worries me.” Alya motioned at Marinette to continue, then opened a compact from inside her purse so she could check that all the laugh-snot was gone. “Adrien said things were going to get weird with all his friends.”

“So?” Alya found a fleck, already drying, which she scraped off her chin.

“_ All _ his friends. That’s what he said. And _ all _his friends definitely includes Nino. Alya… you did remember to delete the part about the closet at the party before you gave Adrien your phone, right?”

The cheap plastic compact cracked when it hit the ground. Alya’s mocha complexion could never truly be as pale as Rose or Juleka, but with the blood drained from her face she was giving them a run for their money.

“Alya?” Marinette asked.

Alya’s only response was to crawl into Marinette’s locker and close the door behind her.

“Alya, you can’t just hide from this,” Marinette called from the hallway.

“I’m not getting out,” Alya said from within her metal box.

“Yes, you are,” Marinette sighed.

“No. I’m staying here until I die and then you can bury my corpse at sea.”

Marinette was still wrestling with Alya when the bell rang for the next period’s class.


	5. Chapter 5

It was 15:29 Wednesday afternoon. The afternoon May weather was beautiful, warm and sunny but dry enough that sweat didn’t stick. A slight westward breeze wafted the scent of violets into Marinette’s nose. Birds chirped, and bees and ladybugs hopped from flower to flower.

None of it brought Marinette joy.

Marinette had been standing at the Tsurugi doorway for exactly 18 minutes. She had stubbed her toe on the way up the stairs. It stopped throbbing at 15:23, 12 minutes into her wait. In that interval, she’d read three times through the bizarre series of texts that had kept her up most of last night. She was halfway into reading number four.

**Marinette:** how did fencing with A go?

**Kagami:** I would prefer to talk about it face to face.

**Marinette:** Something wrong?

**Kagami:** I would prefer to talk about it face to face. I know you are prone to panic, but you have nothing to be nervous about. 

**Kagami:** I love you.

**Kagami:** I should not have sent that. Couples don’t say things like that until the two-month anniversary. Do not feel pressured to reply. I accept that my feelings burn brighter than yours.

**Kagami:** We’ll talk tomorrow.

The time on her phone flickered to 15:30 and Marinette’s finger shot straight for the doorbell. She was too slow. Before the buzzer rang, the door was already opening. Behind it was Kagami, in her blue hakama, white gi, and blue blindfold. Her phone alarm, also set to 15:30 on the dot, was buzzing in the same hand she held her cane.

“Kagami!” Marinette said. “How long were you standing there?”

“Since 15:14,” she answered. “You?”

“Since 15:11. Your texts were terrifying--”

“They should not have been. My apologies,” Kagami said. She was good at concealing her emotions. She made no inflection, gave no tell, to dispel the mystery. As such, her reassurances had the opposite of their intended effect. “Please walk me to my room?” she said, holding her elbow akimbo. “We will get there faster than if I use my cane.”

The short walk up the stairs and down the hall felt even longer than the wait on the stoop. But they got there eventually, and took seats on opposite ends of Kagami’s bed.

Marinette’s fingers dug into her jeans, and she was pretty sure she was leaving marks. “Kagami, _ please, _what’s this about?”

“As I said, there’s nothing for you to worry about--”

“This isn’t like you,” Marinette said. 

Kagami hadn’t been blindfolded long enough to break the body language of a sighted person. She looked away, as if avoiding eye contact. “I’m sure I don’t know what--”

“You are forthright. Direct. You say what you mean.” Marinette ruled out hugging Kagami, since she didn’t have the whole picture of what upset her. She wanted to, though. Ignoring the urge, she said, “That’s why I’m dating you. That’s why I like you. And that’s why what you’re doing now is making it worse. You’re telling me to not worry about something that’s got you so spooked you won’t talk about it. It’s scaring me.”

Marinette glanced at Kagami’s face and saw a war. Her lips trembled with the fight between the girl and the Ice Queen. 

“Your text. You said you loved me.”

“That was inappropriate--”

“It was _ honest. _It was, right?” 

Kagami extended her hand across the bedspread and Marinette gladly took it. “It was.”

“I’m not ready to use the L-word yet,” Marinette said, “and when I am ready, it’ll probably take a month to build up the courage. But you’re precious to me, Kagami, and knowing that you love me warms my heart. So please, trust me. We’ll work through this together. What’s going on? What did you need to tell me in person so badly that you’d drive me crazy with those texts?”

Kagami offered a vulnerable smile. “As you say.” Then she put her mask back on, and her answer was formal, emotionless, empty. Marinette was not fooled by the veneer, and heard the pain it disguised. “I learned something when I spoke with Adrien, and it means you will most likely choose to end our relationship. I wanted to tell you, face to face, that I will hold no ill will.”

“End our…?” Marinette could scarcely believe what she was hearing. “After… no. Why would I…?”

“I choose you without reservation. But my pride demanded an answer: who would Adrien elevate over the two most accomplished girls in his peer group? Who was the other girl? And out of guilt, or loyalty, he answered. He told me that...” Kagami said. Flat. Cool. But _ hesitant, _ and that was all it took for Marinette to sense how badly Kagami was hurting. “He told me, without meaning to, that he’d loved you all along.”

“You’re crazy,” Marinette said. No single emotion could interfere with her speech while they all clamored at once, so she said what she meant without stuttering. “I confessed my love, directly, and he didn’t say anything back! I’m just about the worst possible example of romantic openness and honesty, and even _ I _ would have said ‘I love you’ in that scenario. There _ is _another girl!”

“Marinette, I’m being roundabout to protect you. I cannot see eavesdroppers. I will endeavor to be as clear as is safe.” More hesitation. “He _ thinks _there is another girl. He is mistaken. The other girl is also you.”

The implication percolated slowly through Marinette’s sleep-deprived mind. Strangely, the first coherent thought she could form on the subject was _ well, _ that _ explains the 25,900 attempts. _

He loved her! He loved her!

The boy who was so bad for her, the boy who she’d broken trust for, the boy she’d broken the law for, the boy she’d _ just _let go, loved her all along!

Well, he loved _ fake _‘her’. Pretend her. The ‘her’ on the wrong side of the mask. 

But still, it was love, right? The kind of love that made him totally oblivious to the girl in his class throwing herself at his feet? She wondered if Adrien had ever tried to steal Ladybug’s phone.

“Meditate,” she said. “Gonna… gotta meditate. No freaking out allowed!” she said, freaking out. 

“Marinette--”

“Me. Di. Tate. Tikki, do you know Master Fu’s routine?”

“I think so,” the spirit said from her hiding place in Marinette’s purse. 

Kagami twitched in surprise. “Tikki-sama. You've been here the whole time?”

The little spirit floated around Kagami’s head. “I’ve been doing this for thousands of years, Kagami. I’ve heard Ladybugs plot coups, make love, and weep from heartbreak. I’ve never once broken their confidence. With Marinette, you can talk like I’m not here. I promise.” 

“Me-di-ta-tion, please!” Marinette said. She was quivering. 

“Right. Can do. I’ll have to work around the lack of _ Mister _Fu’s gong, though

“I can have a gong sent for,” Kagami offered.

“Please don’t,” Marinette grimaced. “I hate that gong. I know I should have said something. If Ma--er… Mister Fu weren’t so earnest about it…”

Kagami pulled her legs onto the bed and crossed them, resting her palms on knees. Marinette did similar, though she kept her palms skyward and made circles with her thumbs and fingers. She closed her eyes and tried to get comfortable. 

“Ready?” Tikki asked.

“Yes,” Kagami answered. 

“No, not quite.” Marinette wasn’t sure what was wrong. She was posed correctly, the bed was comfortable, she wasn’t wearing any restrictive clothing…

Experimentally, she scooted her whole body half a meter to her left, so her knee was just touching Kagami’s. “Ready,” she said.

Kagami clearly wanted to look at her, but the heavy blindfold presented that, so she gave up and faced forward. Marinette closed her eyes. “Begin by breathing in,” Tikki said in faerie tones.

\------

The heroes of the city stood on a nondescript building under a nondescript sky in a nondescript neighborhood in Paris. “Hey Chat?” Ladybug asked.

“Yes, Ladybug?” His pupils were hearts when he looked at her. 

“Remember how I said that I didn’t know if you really loved me? That you had never seen the real me, just the mask?”

“I do, Ladybug. I’m waiting for the day I can meet you without the mask, and prove you wrong.”

“Well, the boy I like… he fell in love with the mask. He loves Ladybug. Even though he overlooks the real me every day.”

“Milady, name this cad! I have a cataclysm with his name on it!”

Ladybug waved him off. “No, no, no! That’s not what I’m saying. What I’m saying is…”

“Yes, milady?”

“I’m hooking up with him anyway and I’ve kinda been lying to you for the past year? Sorry ‘bout that. I’m sure I’ll come up with another excuse not to date you, though. Bye!”

Then Chat Noir cracked and shattered, and the shattered pieces crumbled to dust and blew away in the wind.

\------

“Marinette? Marinette?” Kagami asked.

Marinette jerked out of her slumber. “I’m awake, I’m awake!” 

“Sorry, Marinette. I guess I was too dull,” said Tikki. “I didn’t intend to put you to sleep…”

“It’s fine,” she said. Her meditation-_ cum _-nap had granted a fleeting clarity that mandated swift action. “I was tossing and turning all night. I’ll be fine tomorrow, unless my girlfriend pulls another stunt like those mystery texts.”

“I’m…” Kagami was still acting her icy role. Marinette forgave her. “I’m still your girlfriend?”

“Going to Adrien in my other persona would be… wrong. On so many levels. And you’re a special person. I’ve made my choice.” And she had, and in the moment she felt no doubt, although she was certain that she would not in fact be catching up on sleep in the evening. 

“I… am happy.” Kagami shuddered at her own coldness. She clenched her fists, her arms, her stomach, her legs, her toes, one after another, a simple stress-reduction routine. Then, voice thick with emotion, she said “I’m so, so happy,” and the truth of her joy was contagious. “But I don’t understand. You could have him. So why me?”

Marinette parted her lips to answer. 

Her lungs froze, and her tongue was paralyzed.

She’d made the hardest decision of her life without a stutter. She’d severed the final threads tying her to the weight she’d dragged slavishly behind her for a year. She hadn’t regretted it at all. And yet that simple request to _ talk _about it was too far. Too much. Too painful.

_ Funny how that works, _ she thought with black humor. To Kagami, she said, “I’m so tired.”

Too quickly, not understanding, Kagami tried to be kind. “My bed is yours. I can train by myself--”

Marinette patted Kagami’s knee. She jumped slightly, since she had not been warned, but then took the gesture in stride and waited for Marinette to finish. “Not like that. Tired like I talked with you about on the roof. Stretched thin and worn through.”

“I see.”

“Being with you, dating another girl, letting go of Adrien--people keep asking me these _ questions. _And I’m compelled to answer. Over and over, I have to lay my heart on operating table and dissect my own emotions.” Marinette squeezed her eyes shut, then opened them again. “I know you want my reasons for choosing you. I don’t blame you for wanting to know. But I’m so, so tired.”

Kagami was silent. She was also blind, and Marinette wanted to make sure they were staring eye to eye but she couldn’t, so she said “Shoulder” and moved her hand there.

“Kagami, I know it’s unfair for me to ask this of you, but it would mean the world to me for you to accept not knowing. For you to take it on faith that my reasons are good ones, to leave it at that, and to walk with me right now to the kitchen.” Her smile, brilliant as diamond and brittle as glass, was wasted on the blindfolded girl. “Please? I’ve been waiting for days for the chance to bake some cookies with my girlfriend.”

This time, Kagami did not hesitate. She was on her feet with a martial artist’s grace, gathering her cane and presenting her elbow in a single fluid motion. “Far be it from me to keep a lady waiting,” she said. If she still held insecurities, she did not display them.

Marinette cried a little bit on the way to the kitchen, but her eyes were dry again before they got there.

\------

Three sets of measuring cups were laid out in rows on far sides of the kitchen, each a pre-measured set of ingredients for a batch of peanut-butter cookies. Kagami was already half-covered in white powder from the pouring. Repetition was a powerful learning tool, though, and the third measure was less messy than Marinette could do while sighted.

“Will the ingredients go to waste?” Kagami asked from the sink, where she rinsed flour off her hands. 

“You live in a mansion big enough to house twenty families,” Marinette replied. “You can afford to throw out some flour.”

Kagami looked abashed. ‘What’s it like being rich’ went onto the growing pile of things Marinette wanted to know about her, but for now, baking took priority. “It’s the principle of the thing.” She ran her hands around the edge of the sink to find her hand towel. 

Marinette’s toe tapped nervously. Not helping was hard. _ She can do this herself, _she thought. “If multiple batches end up good, we’ll freeze some of the dough to bake later.”

“You say ‘if’ like there is a risk of failure. You told me this was a simple recipe. This should be easy, yes?” 

“It _ should _ be,” Marinette said with a nervous grin. “But you’re talking with a girl who’s so clumsy she can spill a bottle of milk that’s still _ inside _ the fridge, so…”

“There’s a story behind that, I’m sure. Next step is?”

“We’re mixing. Large metal bowl.”

Kagami slowly crept along the countertops, feeling at braille labels on cupboards looking for mixing bowls.

“Is it okay to talk about mother’s revelation on Monday?” she asked while she searched.

“It’s just us here,” said Marinette. 

“Let me rephrase. Will a conversation on the topic exhaust you?”

_ She really does care _. “I may not be good for advice, but I can definitely listen.”

She opened a drawer, felt around inside, and frowned. “Baking bowls are not mixing bowls. These are all ceramic.” Moving on to the next cupboard, she began to explain. “In the absence of outside interference, I will be blind sometime between age 20 and age 40. Mentally, I assumed the worst-case scenario and came to terms with six years of sight.” 

She found her target, the cupboard with metal mixing bowls, and tried to take one out. Several spilled on the ground, and Kagami cursed in Japanese. 

“I’ve got them,” said Marinette.

“I don’t need help--”

“I’m _ hungry, _and we’re not here to help you practice bowl-cleaning. Hurry up over to your ingredients so we can get to cooking. I’ll put these away.”

“As you say,” Kagami answered. Marinette thought she looked cute when she pouted.

“Six years of sight?” Marinette knelt by her side, brushing her arm on the way down. 

“Yes,” she said. “I planned my life around six years of sight, and I’ll keep to that plan, only now my blindness will be a likelihood rather than a remote possibility. At nineteen, I collect my gold medal at the Olympics--”

“That confident, are you?” 

“I acknowledge the possibility of failure. I might end up silver or bronze. But why would I aspire to anything less than perfection?” She reached the first row of ingredients and poured them into the bowl, one by one. “After the Olympics, I will get married. My wife and I will honeymoon in Scandinavia. I will see the Aurora Borealis. And when we return, I will begin my forays into mysticism and let the curse come as it may.”

Her cavalier acceptance of the ancestral curse should have bothered Marinette, but she was thoroughly caught up in a different part of the plan. “Definitely, wife? No chance of husband?”

Kagami beamed in Marinette’s direction. “Why would I aspire to anything less than perfection?”

Marinette’s world went pink. _ This is what it’s like to be loved? _ she thought. Yes, Chat flirted all the time, but it wasn’t the same. Even at his most genuinely romantic, Chat always lessened the impact of his words with a soft coating of humor. Kagami, in contrast, _ meant _it, even when she was joking. Marinette stared, watching her as she moved. She was so graceful and in control even when blind. She easily assembling the electric mixer by touch alone with absolute confidence. 

_ Hang on. Electric mixer… _

“No, wait!” she cried, but she was too slow, and the powered tool blasted flour everywhere. 

Kagami staggered backwards, coughing up white powder, and Marinette dove across the kitchen to prevent her from crashing. “Stay here!” she whispered in her Ladybug voice, firmly planting Kagami’s palms on a nearby table. Then she ran for the counter, where the electric whisk skittered and bounced across the marble. 

A point in favor of clumsiness was that you learned how to deal with the fallout. Rather than compound the mess trying to chase down the errant mixer, she went straight to the outlet and unplugged it. 

“Sorry,” Marinette said.

Kagami frowned. “You’re apologizing to me? I created a disaster.” 

“I gave unclear instructions, and then stopped watching you during a delicate task. Ugh, there’s powder everywhere, but whatever. We’ll clean it all up at the end. Two important lessons from this mistake. Do you know what they are?”

“Regretfully, I do not.” 

“First, the electric whisk is for wet mixing. Just use a regular beater for powder.”

“Understood.”

“Second, don’t flirt with the person looking out for your safety if you don’t want her distracted!”

Kagami glowed. “I will save the flirting for Friday, then. Is this batch salvageable?”

Bowls were spilled everywhere, ingredients mixed together. Softened butter splattered on the side of a bowl of peanuts. “No, but that’s why we made backups--”

Marinette’s phone rang. 

“--and now, someone’s calling me. Hang on, let me silence it--”

“You should answer,” Kagami said, instantaneously serious. “I know you want to forget the world, but the world has not forgotten you. My love must not keep you from your duty.”

“Dramatic much?” Marinette sighed. “It’s a phone call. Video call, actually, from… Juleka? Maybe it’s a band thing? The costumes should be done, but… hello?”

Juleka was sitting in an unfamiliar restaurant with Rose. It looked to be old-timey American themed, with chairs in the style of the bench seat of a cadillac and an ancient jukebox on the table. Between them was a goblet with a pink milkshake and two straws. “Hi Juleka, Rose. What can I do for you?”

“Nothing!” Rose was shimmering pink, dressed similar to her normal style but with fewer stripes and more sequins on her dress. Her attitude matched her garb to a tee. “We just wanted to talk to you for a minute. You and Kagami--Alya said you’d be with her, and we’ll be quick because we know you two are on a date!”

“She is here,” Marinette said. “She’s--”

“Not presentable due to a baking accident,” Kagami said swiftly. Marinette glanced at Kagami, who pointed to her blindfold and shook her head. Marinette agreed. No need for her to explain that to relative strangers. “Rose, Juleka, I’m honored to meet Marinette’s classmates. Forgive me for not appearing on screen.”

“_Wakarimasu_. _ Ii desu wa! Yoroshiku onegaishimasu! _” Rose chirped. Kagami smiled at the unexpected Japanese.

“_Yoroshiku.” _

“It’s cool,” said Juleka. “Hey, listen. We’re just calling to say… thanks.”

“Thanks?” Kagami asked.

“For setting a good example,” Rose said. “For reminding me what true love and true bravery looks like. Today is your first date, and we normally wouldn’t interrupt, but we wanted to tell you that… today is our first date, too.”

Marinette gushed. “Congratulations! Oh, I’m so happy for you two! That’s wonderful news!” 

“It’s not news! Please!” Rose gasped, and Juleka wrapped her in a hug.

“That’s not how she meant it, Rosie. They’ll keep it secret. Right, Marinette, Kagami?”

“I won’t whisper a word. Kagami, shoulder?” Marinette touched Kagami. 

Kagami tilted her head to rub her cheek against Marinette’s fingers. “I will preserve your secret,” she said. “Family problems?”

“Her parents are--”

“Catholic--”

“--jerks.”

“Jule!”

“What, it’s true!”

“It occurs to me,” Marinette said. “Kagami, does your mother know…?”

She let out a long-suffering sigh. “About you and me? If she does not, she will soon enough. She is perceptive. She is certainly aware of my orientation, however. I told her when I first realized it months ago.”

“How… how did she take it?” Rose asked weakly. “If it’s not too rude of me to ask!”

Kagami’s lip curled with disgust. “Mother is a traditional woman.”

“Like mine,” said Rose, and Juleka hugged her again.

“Doubtful,” Kagami said. “Our tradition is very different from the European baseline. When I told her I was interested in girls, she told me she could neither condemn nor condone my relationships with women. She told me...”

Her lips puckered. “...she told me my future _husband _was the only one who could approve or disapprove of my choice in _concubine_.”

Marinette didn’t blush, because the answer was too ridiculous to take seriously. “Good grief, she really said that?”

“I looked up the French translation of the Japanese word to be sure.”

“Hey,” said a smirking Juleka. “You taking applications for the concubine thing?”

Rose smacked her shoulder. “Jules, you don’t mess with the OTP! You know those two are meant for each other and no one else!”

“Well duh.” Her eyes crinkled behind her bangs. “That’s the point. If Marinette’s keeping her busy, then the other concubines don’t have anything to do. We just get to chill in the harem.” She gave Rose a soulful gaze. “Lounging on pillows. Jamming some tunes. Feeding each other grapes.”

“Well, I have a beanbag chair in my room, and we should have grapes in the fridge,” said Rose, flushing the color of her namesake. “And as long as we’re jamming ‘the devil’s music,’ my parents won’t dare barge in…”

“Kagami, Marinette, nice talking with you, Rosie and I gotta go!” Juleka said instantly, without looking at the camera.

“Yes.” Kagami wore a wry grin. “It sounds like you have somewhere to be. A pleasure make your acquaintances. And, as Marinette said, congratulations.”

The goodbye went back and forth for a couple of rounds before Juleka disconnected. 

Kagami began her slow walk over to the second set of ingredients. “You bring out the best in people,” she said.

“Only because you brought out the best of me.” 

“On a more serious matter,” Kagami said, kneeling to retrieve a clear mixing bowl. “We need to decide on pet names.”

“Pet names?”

“Yes,” Kagami said. Marinette stared at the back of her head, and she stared unseeing at the ingredients in front of her, painstakingly adding them one at a time to the bowl. “My reading suggests they are an important part of a loving relationship. My first instinct was to go with Mari-chan, in the Japanese style, but that calls unnecessary attention to my foreign upbringing.”

“Ummm…” Marinette floundered for a way to let Kagami down gently. “I don’t think you can just declare a nickname to be official. I’m pretty sure they arise organically--”

“Next, I considered your physical features. ‘Pigtails’ is suitable but lock you into that hairstyle for life, and ‘sky blue eyes’ is too many words.”

“Kagami, you don’t have to do this. Shoulder,” she warned touching gently. “It’s okay to just let things happen---”

Kagami kept her face down. “But eventually, I decided. You are ‘pookiebear.’ I hope that’s acceptable.”

It was not, of course, but Marinette wasn’t sure how to just _ tell _her that. And after all they’d done to get her to relax, she was back to her checklists and rules, too! And so focused she wouldn’t even look up…

_ ...wait a second, _thought Marinette.

“If it’s not, acceptable, then ‘honeybuns,’ perhaps?” Kagami said. Marinette grabbed her chin and turned her face around, and sure enough, she had a wide, sly grin. 

“Oh my lord, you’re trolling me,” Marinette said.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about, milady.”

“Okay, nope nope nope! _ Not _doing that one!” Marinette said with a laugh.

The shit-eating grin on Kagami’s face faded into something more demure. “It’s taken, I suppose.”

“Not that,” Marinette said. “It’s like… when _ he _ says it, I hear ‘my lady, my fair, my petit,’ and it’s sweet. But when _ you _say it…”

“When I say it?”

“When you say it, all I hear is ‘Milady de Winter, will you kill me today with poison, or with daggers?’ So it gets a hard veto from me.”

Kagami’s fingers followed Marinette’s arm from where it rested on her shoulder, and pulled Marinette into a hug. Marinette, raised in a bakery, was used to being covered in flour and did not complain when the Kagami transferred her mess between them. “You associate me that strongly with the Musketeers?”

“I do,” Marinette answered. “You’re a regular swashbuckler.”

“Then perhaps I should elevate them among my role models. My mother’s recent actions have spoiled the mythos of the samurai for me, and I do intend to remain in Paris indefinitely.”

“Don’t worry, Kagami. I’ll make a proper Frenchwoman out of you.”

Kagami kissed Marinette’s cheek. “Isn’t it early in our relationship for a marriage proposal?”

Marinette nearly leapt out of Kagami’s hug, and only Kagami’s iron grip kept her in place. “What? Ack! That’s not what I… I wasn’t…” Kagami was grinning again. “...you’re bantering. Bantering and trolling. Trolling and bantering. Has Chat been giving you lessons?”

“I did not need lessons in humor,” Kagami said. “What I had to learn was that it is acceptable to let one’s guard down. That one does not need to curate every word at every moment, because in the presence of loved ones, it’s acceptable to be one’s self.” 

Kagami kissed Marinette on the lips, tasting of flour and cornstarch. 

When she was done, she pulled back, and rested her palm on Marinette’s cheek. “It is a difficult lesson, one I am still learning. Luckily, I have an excellent teacher.”

For the second time that date, Marinette thought, _ this is what it’s like to be loved. _

Kagami sighed. “We should bake.”

“We… don’t have to rush,” Marinette said. 

“I am pleased to have you here as my baking date,” Kagami said, businesslike once more. “But this remains a day of training. And I want to feed you my cookies. I am mixing with a hand beater?”

Marinette untangled herself from her girlfriend. “Yeah, nice and easy for a few seconds. It all gets mixed again when the wet ingredients get added. Umm, I know what I’d like to do when we’re done eating?”

“Yes?” Kagami felt her tools, frowning when she grabbed a spatula instead of the whisk. Marinette again wanted to help, and again repressed the desire. 

“I was going to ask if we could listen to the audiobook of _ Les Trois Mousquetaires_, but you have to spend your blind time practicing, so… instead, could you read it to me? From the braille? You have a lovely voice.”

That compliment brought a light blush to Kagami’s face. _ Kagami 22, Marinette 1. I’m on the board! _Marinette thought. 

“I would love to,” Kagami said as she began to mix the powder. “Where in the novel are you?”

She answered, and they talked, and they baked, and they read. And although they both had a host of pressures lurking just outside the door, for a few perfect hours, nothing in the world could bother them. 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! This series will have two more installments before the endgame. Make sure you're subscribed to the series, not just this work, so you will be alerted when I post part 6, Double Blind, in the near future!


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